ENG-1959 — Page 400

CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

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on which all the unofficial members sit. Procedure in the Legisla- tive Council is based on that of the House of Commons.

The membership of the Executive and Legislative Councils is given in Appendix XIX.

JUDICIARY

The Principles of Common Law and Equity and the Statutes of England as they existed in that country on 5th April 1843, except where inapplicable to local circumstances, form the basis of the legal system of Hong Kong. They have been extended and modified by the application to the Colony of certain subsequent enactments and by Hong Kong Ordinances, of which a new edition, revised in 1950, was published in 1951. The courts of the Colony are described in Chapter 13.

ADMINISTRATION

Under the general direction of the Colonial Secretary, the administrative functions of the Government are discharged by some thirty departments, all the officers of which are members of the Civil Service. A list of these departments is given in Appendix V.

The Colonial Secretariat, under the general administrative control of the Deputy Colonial Secretary, co-ordinates the work of departments, and makes, or transmits from the Governor or Colonial Secretary, all general policy decisions. The Secretariat consists of four divisions dealing with general administration, finance, defence and government personnel. The Financial Secre- tary is responsible for financial and economic policy; the Defence Secretary advises on defence, co-ordinates the work of the local forces, described in Chapter 17, and acts as the main channel of communication between the Government and Her Majesty's Armed Forces stationed in the Colony. The Secretariat includes a Political Adviser, seconded from the Foreign Office.

The Government's principal legal adviser is the Attorney General, who is the head of the Legal Department and is also responsible for drafting legislation and for instituting and con- ducting public prosecutions. The establishment of the department includes the Solicitor General, three Principal Crown Counsel, four Senior Crown Counsel and nine Crown Counsel.